


Choices

by inbetweenwords



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-18 15:28:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11877438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inbetweenwords/pseuds/inbetweenwords
Summary: When Rose Dunne realizes that the only way of not detonating the weapons was crashing the plane, she understood and accepted that she had to die. But when she wakes up seventy years late, in a new world and with the feeling that not a day had passed since she made the choice to die, she realizes life had made a decision without consulting her.





	1. Chapter 1

January, 1944

Being in love with someone and really love that person are two entirely different things. When you are in love with someone, you want to _have_ that person. When you love someone, you _need_ this person. Being in love is believing you need someone to be happy; your happiness depends on it. When you are in love with someone, you care about that person more than you realize. 

Falling in love is much easier to love. It is easy to discover when you are in love because it makes you feel a constant need. But sometimes, you forget the people you love and, sometimes, you don’t realize until life forces to remember.

You can fall out of love with someone but you can’t stop loving one. The people we love never leave us. They can physically go away but they never leave our mind. When you love someone, you cannot stop loving that person because that would mean you stop loving a part of yourself. 

As he walked the corridors of the military base, James Buchanan Barnes thought he would never stop loving Rose Louella Dunne. He didn’t know how he came to the conclusion but he was sure about it. Probably the fact that he was trying to sneak into her room when the General’s orders were that the ladies wing was inaccessible, it was a sign that he loved her. That or he was a complete idiot.

The room was dark when he entered; Rose was sleeping. He hesitated for a few seconds before dropping the idea of going back the way he had came. Why should he use his spare hours to sleep, when they had the possibility to be together for a few more hours?

Thanks to the light rays coming from the moon, he saw where the bed was and, therefore, where Rose’s body was. As he approached the bed with a silent step, he sat down slowly and gently brushed a few strands of hair from her face. Rose’s eyelids moved, opening seconds later. Her first reaction was scream but he stifled her screams when he covered her mouth with one of his hands.

“Rose, it’s me! Bucky!” he whispered, trying to calm her down.

Rose pushed his hand away, she leaned forward and pressed the switch that was next to the bed. Her heart was pounding, struggling to get out of her chest. When she saw Bucky’s face, she tried to calm herself down but the shock had been to big, she needed a few more minutes.

“For God’s sake, Bucky. What are you doing here? You’ll get in trouble” she said as she took the blanket and covered herself. Bucky wanted to tell her that it wasn’t necessary, that he already had seen her naked but he decided it wasn’t the time if he wanted to stay in her room. “Has something happened? Are you okay?” she asked this time with concern.

 “I’m fine, don’t worry,” he answered with calmly. “I just wanted to see you.”

Rose frowned slightly, not understanding exactly what he wanted to say.

“I barely survived on the last mission and while I was locked in Hydra’s base, do you know what the only thing I could think of was?”

Rose shook her head. She didn’t know; Bucky barely talked about those days. And the truth was that Rose didn’t want to talk about those days either, about the sleepless nights, anxiety and hopelessness.

“That the last thing I told you was ‘ _see you later, doll_ ’.”

“Oh, that’s not good” she said as a smile began to take shape in the corner of her lips. “And how do you want to say goodbye this time, Barnes?”

Bucky licked his lips before biting his lower lip. Rose couldn’t help but widen her smile. Without any warning and with the risk the whole base find out they were together in the same room, Bucky took her by the waist and laid her on the bed as Rose yelled between laughs. He tickled her until Rose tearfully begged him to stop. He stared into her eyes before kissing her, with an intense and possessive desire. Rose returned his passionate kisses hungrily as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Don’t go,” she murmured against his lips.

Bucky sighed before lying to her side. He intertwined his legs with hers and he placed his face a few centimeters from hers.

“I can’t let the little guy from Brooklyn go alone into that Hydra base.”

“Steve isn’t that little guy from Brooklyn anymore, Bucky.”

“But he’s still too dumb to not run from a fight.”

Rose sighed as she placed one of her hands on Bucky’s cheek and absently caressed it as she looked at him, trying to memorize his features so that when he left, she had something to remember. She wasn’t sure how she ended up falling in love with Bucky Barnes, the most known ladies’ man of all New York, but she did and she was incapable of thinking of anyone else but him.

“I promise you when this is over, I’ll marry you” he whispered surprising her.

Rose widened her eyes and started laughing.

“You’ll have to ask me first for that, Sergeant.” 

“I’m asking you know” he said with a roguish smile on his lips. “Will you marry me, Rose Louella Dunne?"

Rose chuckled. “There’s no ring?”

Bucky rolled his eyes. He leaned a bit and took the dog tags of his neg and handed it to Rose. Rose’s stomach tightened and her heart began to pump hard, frightened and excited at the same time. 

“It’s the only thing I have,” he murmured as his blue eyes looked at her sharply. 

“I haven’t even said yes” she played as she bit her lip.

“Rose...” 

“James…” she imitated him.

Bucky sighed loudly and Rose took the opportunity to cup his face and kiss him. 

"Yes, I’ll marry you, Sergeant Barnes” she finally said with excitement in her voice.

A smile crossed Bucky’s lips before kissing Rose again.

If there was something that James Buchanan Barnes was sure of, it was that he loved Rose more than anything in the world. And as he saw Steve’s hand distancing himself, he couldn’t help but think his best friend was going to break her heart when he told Rose his fiancé was dead.


	2. Chapter One

Was there life after death?

That was the question that was reflected in Rose's mind as she blinked several times, trying to get used to the light that entered through the small window of the room. When her eyes managed to be completely open, Rose found herself in a room she didn't recognize. Despite the slight engine roar of the cars, the room was completely silent. The same question reappeared in her mind: was there life after dead? And if so, was it what she was experimenting in those moments?

Despite the confusion she felt at that moment, Rose remembered the last thing she had done. She also remembered how desperate Peggy's voice sounded through the speakers of the plane when Steve explained to her that he had to crash the plane in order to save mankind.

Rose had no doubt, she was dead. And somehow, she was happy about it. It hadn't been an easy decision the one they had had to make but, at last, she could finally see her fiancé again.

She bent down and sat on the bed, feeling an intense pain placed in her head. She frowned slightly. Was she supposed to feel pain if she was dead?

Before she could place her bare feet on the floor, the door of the room opened. She wasn't sure who she expected to see but when Steve Rogers came through the door, she couldn't help but look surprised.

It made sense, she thought. He had been the one who had crashed the plane. He had to be dead too.

"I'm glad to see you're awake, Rose" Steve greeted with a warm and calm voice as he closed the door behind him. "How do you feel?"

When she opened her mouth to speak, she felt her throat was dry. She took one of her hands on her neck and Steve quickly approached the nightstand, filled the glass with water and offered to Rose. Rose smiled slightly and took a long sip before trying to speak again.

"I guess I'm… okay? This was not what I was expecting."

"What do you mean?" Steve asked frowning.

"I mean, I've never thought much about what would happen after death but… I don't know, I guess I didn't expect it to be so  _normal_."

Steve felt something inside him breaking into pieces. Since he had woken up in that place, his heart had done nothing more than crack. He had put himself in that situation. He was the one who asked those who had orchestrated that pantomime that he wanted to be the one who told Rose the truth. He thought it would be less abrupt, less painful. But by looking her in the eyes, Steve discovered that it would be painful either way.

"Where do you think we are, Rose?" he asked as he sat on the wooden chair that was next to her.

Rose frowned slightly, a bit confused by the question. "The last thing I remember is you crashing the plane into the Arctic," she replied with insecurity. "There's no way we could have survived that, right?" she added, sounding more and more desperate. "Steve, we are dead, aren't we?"

When Steve didn't answer right away, Rose felt a lump forming in her throat. She covered her mouth with one of her hands as her eyes filled with tears.

"I th-thought, I…" her voice broke. "Oh my God, Steve. I… I can't go through this again, I…"

She couldn't even speak properly. Anyone would be happy to be alive but not her, not Rose. She had made up her mind, she was ready to die.

"How?" she asked without voice.

"Minutes after I crashed the plane, I recovered consciousness" he said, not daring to stare into her eyes. "I found your body a few feet of where I was. I took your pulse and you were alive. You were alive, Rose" he repeated, this time raising his blue eyes and looking at her. "I couldn't let you die" he finally said with a stiffened voice.

Rose closed her eyes tightly, letting some tears fall down her cheeks.

"I didn't have the strength to drag your body out so I wrapped my arms around you, I put the shield in front and… That's all I remember. Somehow, the shield and my body protected yours and…"

Steve knew what he was going to say was going to break Rose's heart even more, if that was humanly possible. She was going to hate him with all her strength, not only for ignoring a decision she made but because of him, she was in a complete and unknown world. A world where Bucky, her fiancé, wasn't there.

"We have been asleep almost seventy years, Rose" he finally said.

Rose waited for Steve to tell her that he was joking, that nothing he had said was true. But she saw it in his eyes, she saw that Steve wasn't one of those people who turned around when someone was dying at his side. Steve was a hero and heroes didn’t let people die.

"I was ready to die" she whispered through her teeth.

"I know" he replied with a sight, "but I promised Bucky I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

They stood there, looking at each other in silence for a few seconds, before Rose lost her temper.

"It wasn't your choice!" she yelled. "I didn't want to live! I still don't want to live in a world where Bucky isn't" she cried.

"And do you think I do?" although he didn't yell, he raised his voice. He was hurt, she could see it in his eyes. "I haven't only lost my best friend, Rose. I also lost Peggy."

Steve got up from the chair and walked towards the door. Before he could leave the room and disappear from Rose's sight, he turned around and looked at her.

"If you had been the one who died, would you have liked that Bucky had stopped living just because you weren't at his side?" When Rose didn't answer, Steve added: "Yeah, I thought so."

When the door closed behind Steve, Rose covered her face with her hands and let herself cry. But it wasn’t long before the door opened again and a woman with dark hair, intense blue eyes and dressed with a dark blue suit that perfectly fitted her body, entered the room.

"Ma'am," she greeted with a firm voice. "I'm Agent Hill and I'm here to take you to Director Fury."

Rose stared at her with no emotion in her face. "And who's this Director Fury?"

"I think it would be better if you dress up and come with me. There are some clothes in the bathroom."

It seemed that Rose had no choice but follow Agent Hill orders. She got out of bed, feeling her legs a bit stiff and went to the bathroom, where she found a white t-shirt with a logo of an eagle flying, black gym trousers and a pair of white sneakers.

When she came out of the bathroom, Agent Hill looked away from some type of electronic dispositive Rose didn’t recognize.

"I should warn you that what you're about to see may be a shock for you. This room was created for you to think you were still in the forties" she pointed out.

Agent Hill wasn't wrong when she told her that everything she would see would be a big shock to her. Rose had no idea where she was, but that facility wasn't only huge, it seemed from the future. Although, she was already in the future.

"You'll get used to it" she said, making Rose to look at her.

"And what if I don't want to get use to it?" Rose replied in a mumble as she observed what was around her with eyes wide open.

"I don't think you have a choice, Agent Dunne" a deep, manly voice said. Rose looked ahead, finding a dark-skinned man dressed in a long black coat and an eye patch. Rose supposed that she should be surprised by that man wearing an eye patch but truth was it was the least surprising thing she had seen until that moment. "I see you've met Maria Hill," he added. Rose nodded. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Agent. Captain Rogers told us you were awake. How are you feeling?"

"Hill told me you wanted to talk to me," she said cutting off any type of superficial conversation.

The man smiled slightly. "I suppose you have many questions, I'm here to answer everything you want to ask. But before that, you should know where you are" he said. "What you see here is the base of operations of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. Or better known as SHIELD. It was founded by some of your friends. Howard Stark, Chester Phillips and Peggy Carter."

Rose held her breath when she heard those names. It seemed like it had been only a few minutes when she last saw them. What had happened with them during all those years that she had been sleeping? Did they marry? Did they have children?

"It was founded as an anti-terrorism agency after World War II to protect the United States and, later, the whole world of all possible threats."

"And you're the director?" Rose asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself first. I'm Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD" he said, offering his hand to Rose. She quickly shook it. "We could use your help in here, Agent" he added after releasing her hand. "In the end, it was you alongside Captain America who ended Johann Schmidt and saved mankind."

Rose shook her head as a smile full of disbelief settled on her lips. "I don't think you understand, sir. I was in that plane because I had an uncontrollable desire to die. I'm no hero, and I don't want to be one now."

Fury stared at her for a few seconds, trying to figure out if Rose was scared or she was really that way. But truth was that Rose was scared, everything she knew had changed or disappeared, and her head was still trying to make to the idea that she had spent about seventy years asleep.

"There's something you should see, Agent" Fury said after a few seconds in silence. "It's not here, it's in Washington. Do you think you are ready to make a short plane trip?"

Rose was not sure she could say no, so she nodded. But when she went outside, she felt betrayed. The world had changed, it had moved on without her. She couldn't understand how she could have spent so many years frozen and not suffered any damage. She wanted to ask but she wasn't sure Agent Hill knew why she had survived.

The plane landed in Washington D.C. an hour and a half later and a fully armored car was waiting for them on the runway. Rose hadn't the slightest idea what to expect from that trip but if Nick Fury had sent her there it mean that something was waiting for her.

She frowned slightly when the car parked in front of the Smithsonian museum. She wanted to ask Agent Hill what they were doing there but before she could open her mouth, she said: "If it's too much, just say the word and we'll leave."

When they entered the museum, Rose saw a large poster hanging on the wall with Steve's face and with the phrase ' _Welcome home, Cap_ ' below. Beside it, there was another poster but this time with her face on it. ' _You too, Agent Dunne_ ' it said.

"You're a hero to many people, Agent Dunne. When the citizens of United States discovered Captain Rogers and you were alive, they didn't miss the opportunity to pay a tribute to those who saved us from HYDRA" Hill explained.

Maria Hill was wrong. Everyone was wrong. She hadn't saved the world from HYDRA. Maybe it had been her intention when she joined the SSR but it hadn't been her intention when she got on that plane with Steve.

They began to walk towards where the section dedicated to them was. She didn't know how she managed to hold back the tears when she saw all the panels with the faces of the Howling Commandos, the team that Captain America had led and the team that Bucky Barnes was part of.

There was a whole panel dedicated to Bucky and reading the words that had been written about him filled her chest with pride, nostalgia and pain. She placed her shaking hands over his face, hoping she would be able to feel him but all she felt was the cold glass under her palm. A cry escaped her mouth, sounding like a wounded animal.

"Agent Dunne?" Maria asked with a tone of concern.

"I'm okay," she managed to reply.

But she wasn't. How could she be? Nick Fury was very wrong, that was no shock to her. It was a complete nightmare.

"That was a difficult winter," she heard a familiar voice say. Rose turned around, looking for the source and she found it right behind her, where an image of Peggy was reflected on a screen. She was so pretty, though she had always been. Rose had always envied her, Peggy Carter had an unique beauty. "A blizzard had trapped half our battalion behind the German line. Steve…" her voice cracked. "Captain Rogers, he fought his way through a HYDRA blockade that had pinned our allies down for months. He saved over a thousand men, including the man who would… Who would become my husband as it turned out. Even after he died, Steve was still changing my life."

"She's alive," Agent Hill pointed out behind her.

Rose needed a few seconds to process her words. She turned around slowly and stared at her, trying to discover if Maria was messing with her.

"Peggy Carter is alive," she repeated.

Rose didn't have to ask Maria Hill to take her to see her friend, she understood as soon as she saw the expression of her face.

During the drive, Rose allowed herself to remember the time she and Peggy had spent together. Margaret Elizabeth Carter had been the most incredible woman she had ever met and to witness the last conversation she had had with the love of her life, seconds before he crashed the plane, had been painful and sad. Rose would have done anything to give her that last dance with Steve Rogers.

Seeing her lying on the bed, surrounded by machines and medications made Rose's heart break. Time had passed for all but not for her. Peggy was ninety years old, just like her. The only difference was that Rose had kept the appearance of a twenty-two year old girl.

"I hate you, you know?" Rose pressed her lips tightly as tears filled her hazel eyes. Peggy's brown eyes were staring at her with hidden happiness, even though she was trying to keep a serious expression. "I knew you were using some magic to keep yourself young."

Rose burst into laughter that soon turned into a sob. She covered her mouth with one hand as she watched Peggy smile.

"This is probably the happiest day of my life," she confessed. "I've spent most of my life thinking you and Steve were dead and… You're fine! A bit younger than I imagined but fine."

She liked to see that Peggy kept that unique sense of humor through the years, a humor that had made them get more than one scolding when they were back at the SSR.

"I don't know how it happened, Peggy" she talked for the first time, sitting down in the chair next to the bed. Peggy held out her hand and Rose took it, feeling the wrinkles of her skin under the palm of her hand. "I don't understand how we can be alive."

Peggy sighed. “I do. Well, I can imagine why” she started to say.  **“** I bet Steve is alive because of the super-soldier serum. And you… Well, you were the only stupid person, or smarter, depends how you see it, that used the first version of serum on you because you didn't want them to inject it to the soldiers before it was tested."

Rose smiled slightly, remembering how angry General Phillips had been to her when he heard. She also remembered he had threatened her to kick her out of the SSR. “They’ve signed for this, Agent Dunne!” he had yelled. To which she had replied that they weren’t laboratory rats and that no one deserved to die if they made a mistake.

“Steve has also come to see me today” Peggy said. This time was Rose who looked at her tenderly. She could see it in her eyes that, after all those years, she still loved him. “He told me what happened back at the station.” 

Peggy waited for her to say something, but Rose didn’t open her mouth.

“Rose, I know that losing Bucky affected you in ways I can’t begin to imagine. And I also know that part of you got on that plane because you wanted to die” she confessed.

“No, Peggy. I got on that plane because I  _wanted_  to die” she corrected her. “You always thought I was the stronger one of the two of us. But you were wrong, Peggs. I was nothing like that. I just knew how to fight. I disobeyed General Phillips in every single way I could.”

“Life has given you another chance,” she said after sighing. “Take this opportunity. If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for Bucky. We all know that he would have wanted you to keep on with your life. He loved you too much to be so selfish and believe that if he died before you, you should do it too.”

The problem was that it didn’t matter anymore. Bucky wasn’t alive so it didn’t matter what she did.

“The world has changed and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best, and sometimes the best that we can do is to start over” she said. “Start over with your life again, Rose. And make sure Steve does the same. You two went through a lot, and only you two can help each other.”

Rose shook her head.

“Do it for me, please” she insisted.

And although she didn’t want to do it, she couldn’t say no. Peggy knew her and she knew she couldn’t say no to that. Peggy wanted her to make that promise not just because of her, but because of Steve. Peggy wanted to make sure that Rose took care of Steve, because she was no longer able to do it.

She didn’t know how long she stood there, talking to her until she fell asleep. What she was going to do next was still a mystery, although she was going to have to keep her word because she didn’t want to disappoint the woman who had inspired her to be who she was.

On her way to the apartments SHIELD had assigned them, Rose thought about what it meant to have woken up seventy years later. It meant that the world had changed while she was still the same. It meant that she no longer had any friends or family there to join her on that new adventure. Because Steve didn’t count. He had never really been her friend. But she had to change that if she wanted to keep Peggy’s promise. And truth was she owed Steve a big apology.

“Steve’s apartment is just right in front of yours” Hill informed her before getting out of the car. “You’ll find a mobile in the house, Fury will get in touch with you tomorrow.”

Rose had no idea what a mobile was but she nodded.

The building was nothing out of the ordinary, a grey tower surrounded by other equally normal edifices.

When Steve opened the door, Rose really looked at him for the first time since she had opened her eyes. Dark circles surrounded his blue eyes and his blond hair, always perfectly brushed, was messy. He was and looked devastated.

“I bet you wish you could get yourself drunk,” was the first thing she said when she saw he was holding a beer in his left hand.

Steve sighed as he moved away from the door to let her in. “Lucky for you that you can do it.”

Rose observed the apartment when she got it. It was pretty standard, decorated with different shades of browns and had the basics to live properly.

“Can I get you something?” he asked.

Rose shook her head. “No, I won’t be long. I just came here because I owe you an apology.”

Steve raised both of his eyebrows in surprise, but said nothing. He leaned his back against the sofa, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I’m really sorry, Steve. I blamed you for everything that had happened in my life when none of that was your fault. I guess it was a lot easier to blame you than accept it.”

Steve sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. 

“Thing is you can blame me, Rose” he mumbled.

“Bucky’s death wasn’t your fault” she assured him. Rose had always knew that Steve blamed himself for it and she didn’t do anything to make him think otherwise. She was mad at him. She was mad at Steve for coming back instead of her fiancé.

“You had read the reports, you know that’s not true.”

“Steve, listen to me” she said as she walked towards him. She was about to take his hands in hers but changed her mind at the last moment. “You did everything you could. That day… When you came back to the base and told me he had died, I… Well, I was angry" she confessed, her voice cracking. “But Bucky knew what he was doing. He didn’t care if you were a super-soldier, for him you were that little boy from Brooklyn who was too dumb to not run from a fight.”

Steve pressed his lips together, trying to keep a smile from appearing on his lips. Hearing that from Rose meant a lot to him, he felt like she had taken a load of his mind. He had always blamed himself for what had happened, and although her words didn’t change anything, it confronted him to know she didn’t hold a grudge.

“I have something for you,” he suddenly said as he began to look for something in the pocket of his jeans. Rose frowned but when he pulled out a pair of dog tags, she gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. “I don’t know how they found them but they did and, I thought they didn’t belong in a museum. They are yours” he said as he gave them to her.

“Bucky told me he proposed to you with these,” he smiled. “He was completely and madly in love with you, you know? He was always telling me that he didn’t know how someone like you could have fallen in love with someone like him, that he was the luckiest man in the universe.”

A sob escaped Rose’s mouth as her whole body began to shake. Steve hesitated but he finally hugged her as she collapsed. And for the first time, Rose allowed Steve to comfort her for Bucky’s death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there!
> 
> I'm back with a new chapter. It usually takes long for me to write a new chapter but I have the first four written. And how is that? Well, I had this story posted for a long time in my Tumblr and in AO3. I stopped writing because life kinda got in the way and well, the other day I remembered how much I enjoyed writing it so I wanted to give it another try and edit the chapter and posted them here.
> 
> As you can see, this is a very introductory chapter. Nothing really happens, it just how Rose feels when she wakes up after seventy years asleep. I don't have much to say about the chapter so it would be really nice to hear your thoughts? I'm giving it all with this story and I'm pretty excited and nervous.
> 
> I want to thanks to all of you who have wasted your time reading this, you're the best! I also want to say that I don't own Captain America or The Avengers, I only own my OCs. I'm also gonna use some parts of the script of the movies so, thanks in advance to Marvel and the writers.
> 
> Anyway, I'm gonna shut up now. I hope you have a wonderful day!


	3. Chapter Two

No one had expected Rose and Steve to adapt to the twenty-first century in a blink of an eye, and the fact was that they were in no hurry to do so either. They spent the first week going back and forth from SHIELD’s base. While Rogers was used to people experimenting on him, Dunne struggled a little more. She understood she had to be tested, SHIELD needed to know if the serum she had injected to herself back in the forties had done something more than preventing her from dying and slowing down her aging. But deep down, she knew she was still a completely normal girl. She had nothing special; no powers, no extraordinary strength, nothing. And truth was that she believed every word she had said to Fury and Peggy. She was no hero and she didn’t want to be one. If she had been a valuable agent in the SSR was because she was good at fighting, nothing more. 

During those two weeks, Rose also took the opportunity to learn the new customs. Agent Hill taught her how to use the Internet as well as other electronic devices, like the mobile phone. She had a hard time getting to the idea but, little by little, she learned and by the end of the first week, Rose was already looking for things through the Internet.

For everything else, Rose hadn’t done much more. She mostly spent her days at home, watching TV or surfing the Internet. At first, Steve would come to see her but after a few minutes, they had nothing to talk about. So in order to avoid sharing uncomfortable silences, they just greeted each other when they met in the building’s hallway.

At least it had been that way until that day, when Steve heard Rose screaming when he was about to enter to his apartment. He didn’t think it twice, he didn’t even process the situation; he knocked Rose’s door down. However, he didn’t expect to find what he found. There was black smoke coming out of the oven and, in front of it, there was Rose with giant kitchen gloves in her hands. But Steve’s irruption in her house distracted her, so she was looking at him with wide eyes open.

“What on earth, Rogers?” she said.

“I thought… I…” he fell silent for a few seconds before frowning. “What are you doing?” he asked instead.

Rose sighed loudly as she spinned around and opened the oven, letting out more smoke. Steve went to one of the windows and opened it while Rose took out what it looked like a cake, though it was completely burned. 

“What do you think I was doing?” she murmured, clearly mad. Steve pressed his lips together trying not to laugh. “Damn it!” she exclaimed as she took off the gloves and threw them onto the counter. She turned around, meeting Steve on the verge of laughing. “Go to hell, Rogers!”

Steve couldn’t hold the laugh any longer, and when he laughed, he did out loud. Rose tried to keep a serious face but Steve’s laugh was making it harder for her. She finally shook her head as a smile made its way on her lips.

“I have no choice but to order food. Do you want something?” she asked, picking up a pamphlet of chinese food and showing it to Steve. Rose tried not giving much thought to the fact that she was inviting Steve to stay over for dinner. He did seem to think about it for a few seconds, but he finally agreed.

“I’ll eat the same as you. I’m gonna go to my apartment to grab something to fix the door” he informed her.

After calling the Chinese restaurant, Rose went to clean up the mess she had made in the kitchen while Steve tried to fix the door with an old toolbox he had found in his apartment. Rose tried not to think too much about what she had done minutes earlier. She was aware that there was nothing strange of inviting Steve to dinner, at least not in that century. But for her, for her ancient mind, to invite a man to dinner at her house was something a decent lady didn’t do. In the 40s, it wasn’t polite or acceptable for a woman to suggest an evening out together, so the men did the asking. There was no confusion about what a date meant to either party. It was rare for men and women to be just friends, so if a man called a woman and asked her to dinner, he certainly had a romance on his mind.

Rose reminded herself she was no longer in the forties and that in that century men and women could be just friends. She just needed to see Steve as a friend, and she knew that was going to be hard. She didn’t hate him for what had happened, nor held a grudge, but she couldn’t help but wonder why Steve was there instead of Bucky.

“Why were you trying to cook?” Steve asked, interrupting her thoughts. Rose tilted her head to look at him.

“To eat…?” she joked, causing Steve to roll his eyes. “Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve been watching cooking shows all week and they make it look it so… easy” she replied. “But I’ve never been good at cooking, so I’m not really that surprised” she confessed, making him laugh.

Rose watched Steve as he got up up and wiped his hands on the blue t-shirt he was wearing.

“Did you really think I was in danger?”

“Well, you were screaming” he pointed out.

“I wasn’t screaming.”

Steve raised an eyebrow and Rose snapped her tongue. Before any of them could say something, the doorbell rang. Rose gave Steve some money and she went to the kitchen to take a couple of napkins, beer for Steve and wine for her, placing it all on the table that was in front of the couch. Before Steve went to the couch, he pointed out a small radio that was on one of the shelves of Rose’s living room. The first day she had seen it, she had almost run to turn it on to listen to some music but after hearing all those bizarre sounds, she turned it off.

“I found a radio station where they put music of our time,” Steve spoke as he moved the button to change the station. Suddenly,  _Boogie Woogie Bugle Bo_ y began to sound, causing Rose to stop her movements. “This was such a good song!” Steve said, excited. “I remember it sounded on the radio all the time.”

When Steve looked at Rose and saw she had a blank look on her face, he got concerned. He sat down beside her on the sofa and waited for her to say something.

“Do you know how I met Bucky?” she suddenly asked as she tilted her head slightly to look at him. There were so many things Bucky had told him about Rose, but not how they met. Steve had always thought they had met at Camp McCoy with the 107th Infantry where Rose was working too. Rose chuckled slightly. “He wasn’t really proud of that moment,” she confessed. “It was at the Sherry Bar and this song was playing in the background.”

 

_September 15th, 1941_

_Young people of New York were making the most of the last days of summer by going out, having a few drinks with their friends and dancing the night out. After getting out of work, Rose Dunne was dragged by her friends to the Sherry Bar. When she asked the reason, her friends told her that she needed to get out and have some fun, that she was always working._

_With a martini in her hands and a smile on her lips, Rose watched her friends invade the dance floor. She couldn’t help but laugh when she saw Mary’s movements, if it weren’t because she knew her and she knew it was her way to dance, she would have thought that she was suffering some sort of spasm._

_“Can I have this dance?”_

_Rose slightly tilted her head, meeting a pair of blue eyes that were staring at her and she quickly was captivated by the man who stood beside her. He was gorgeous. In fact, he was more than gorgeous. Rose had never seen such a man, a man who left her speechless just by looking at her with those blue eyes._

_It took her a few seconds to realize who he was. He was James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes, New York’s womanizer. Gossips said he was unable to remember the name of all the women he dated. He was the type of boy parents didn’t want for their daughters. He was the kind of man she knew she should ignore. He was trouble._

_“No,” she answered before finishing her martini, getting up from the chair and heading to the dance floor. When Rose turned around to look at him, he had his eyebrows raised and a roguish smile on his lips._

_“I won’t stop until you say yes!” he yelled._

_“I hope you have a lot of patience then, because I’m going to keep saying no.”_

 

“He’d never told me that story!” he said, bursting into laughter. “I actually get why you said no.”

“I still don’t know how I did it” Rose admitted, laughing. “Not that it was very useful, though.”

“You gave him a hard time. That was what make you different from anyone else. It was what he loved about you” he said, taking a sip of his beer. Rose put her hands on her face as she sighed. What she once would have liked to hear, now meant nothing. When Steve realized Rose was no longer comfortable talking about Bucky, he decided to change the subject. “Hill told me you have been looking for a job.”

“Hill doesn’t know how to keep her mouth shut,” Rose murmured while she dropped her hands from her face, took the glass of wine and leaned on the back of the sofa. “Yes, I’m looking for a job,” she confessed.

“Why?”

“I’ve never been really good at following orders,” she admitted with a sad smile on her lips. “Nobody wants someone who doesn’t obey under their responsibility.”

“But you’re a really great agent, Rose.”

“I  _was_  a really great agent,” she corrected him. “The world has changed and no one wants an ancient in their team.” Steve opened his mouth to reply but Rose stopped him by raising her hand. “I’ve already made a decision.”

Steve sighed. “Okay, as you wish.”

* * * * *

Rose had always envied those who could sleep easily. One would think that after spending more than sixty years asleep, she would have perfect the art of sleeping. But truth was that after two weeks in the 21st century, the most sleep she had gotten was four hours a day.

She sighed before getting out of bed, she grabbed a hoodie and left the bedroom. The clock said it was four o’clock but with the certainty that she wouldn’t fall asleep again, she prepared herself a cup of cocoa with milk and sat on the sill of the window of the living room where she could see New York from a very different perspective she was used to.

That last week, unlike the previous one, she spent more time with Steve. After the dinner they had had at her apartment, things were somewhat calmer between the two of them. It seemed like they could keep a conversation without the need to flee within five minutes and, little by little, they became used to each other’s company. It was not what neither of them had imagined but at least they had someone who had shared the same life experiences.

Rose was startled when she heard something slip beneath the door. She got up quickly, forgetting she was on the window sill. When she balanced herself, she went towards the door finding a brown folder with the SHIELD logo on it. Rose frowned as she picked it up and opened it. On the front page, in a big and bold font, she read  _The Avengers Initiative_. Working for the Strategic Scientific Reserve had taught her that any report that carried the word  _initiative_  or  _project_  should be considered dangerous.

After picking her black hair in a messy bun and serving herself a cup of coffee, Rose took the file folder and sat on the couch. She couldn’t believe what she was reading, or rather she didn’t want to believe it. How could there be so many enhanced people in the world? Why did they want to put them all together in the same room? The idea was magnificent, bring together a group of remarkable people to fight the battles that SHIELD never could. But executing the idea wasn’t the same. It was dangerous, they didn’t even know each other and the odds of them becoming something else were rather scarce. All the candidates were completely different between them and except for Captain America, the others hadn’t a really good history.

Rose got up from the sofa, took the keys and left the apartment to go to Steve’s. She knocked on the door a couple of times and after a few seconds, Steve appeared behind the door. He raised his eyebrows when he saw her there but before he could say anything, Rose handed him the folder.

“This is crazy,” she pointed out as Steve stepped out of the door to let her in. When Rose came in, she noticed that there was a bag half done. “Where are you going?” she asked, looking at him with confusion.

Steve sighed, he had to have imagined that Fury would somehow inform Rose about what was happening. What he hadn’t expected was him sending the information about the Avengers Initiative before explaining the problem.

“Fury came to see me while I was training in the gym,” he said while pointing the sofa to Rose but she didn’t move from where she was. Steve sighed again. “Apparently, we weren’t the only thing Howard found in the Arctic. He also found the Tesseract.”

“What?” she said barely without voice. “But… We just won that battle two weeks ago.” At least, for Steve and Rose it had been only two weeks since they had lost the love of their lives and everyone and everything they had ever known. “They lost it, didn’t they?”

“Yeah, to someone called Loki” Steve nodded. “Rose, I can’t stay here knowing that this thing is in the hands of the bad guys  _again_.”

“But this?” she said pointing to the folder. “This is nuts, Steve. A man in a metal armor? Demigods? A man who turns green when he gets angry?”

Steve couldn’t deny it was crazy but his life had stopped making sense when he had been frozen and asleep for almost seventy years. He could see that Rose was in conflict, that she didn’t know what to do. He knew it wasn’t for him, maybe their relationship had improved but not up to that point.

“What’s going on through your head?” Steve finally asked.

“Fury has sent me this for a reason.”

“He wants you in SHIELD but you knew that already,” he said. “You told me you didn’t want this anymore.”

“I know but it all started with the Tesseract. Might as well end it with it” she murmured.

“Are you sure?”

“No” she confessed, “but I feel it’s the right thing to do.”

“One last mission, then?” Steve asked.

“One last mission, Captain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! I'm back with a new chapter! 
> 
> I don't have much to say this time. This chapter is completely new, I felt like writing this instead the one I had already written. There will be flashbacks in almost every chapter, so be prepared! And finally, I imagine Rose more or less like Shay Mitchell but you can imagine her as you wish!
> 
> Hope you like this chapter and thanks for reading!


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